Although my spot in Centennial doesn’t necessarily give me the greatest feeling of sense of place, it is still definitely somewhere I know I can feel safe and can give me some sort of peace. Over the very short amount of time of going to this place, it has been really fascinating to watch the phenological changes taking place. Although it could be considered a bit sad and depressing going from the first visit which was in the 50s to going to the most recent visit where it was 35 and snowing, the changes were really cool. There was really no evidence of any living plant life (leaves on trees, shrubs, woody plants), but that have also been due to the fact they could have been covered in snow. More sediment has been deposited into the river and more roots could be seen along the edge. Unlike the last visit where we only saw insects, migratory birds were heard and a chipmunk was seen.
Generally, the sense of place in terms of the biophysical aspect, has changed drastically since the first blog post. These changes can definitely be seen throughout the entirety of Centennial Woods. I can’t wait to go back in the spring when everything is alive and the cycle has gone full circle. In terms of my spot by the river as a whole, I feel most connected to watching the physical changes. It’s a really cool feeling to have these blog posts and photos of a place that I can call my own without me having to really own it. I know that later in life it will be really interesting how my sense of place has changed when I look back at my spot. My favorite thing is that I think I know my spot like the back of my hand. Another cool thing is the fact that I know some history of the place and what it was used for in past times. Not many people can probably do this about where they feel a sense of place. Centennial in general plays a pretty big part of the history of UVM and Burlington.
